3 months!

Samantha has been through the wringer her first 3 months!

She had a horrible and persistent diaper rash until she was 4 weeks old. Then we figured out she had food allergies (dairy, beef, tomato, chocolate and soy). Then her face eczema got so bad all she would do is claw at her face or rub it in our chests. And even when we figured this all out, she still would just cry.

Her colic really ended when she was 10 weeks old, but it wasn't until she was 11 weeks that I started to notice. She still was screaming, but only when it was time to sleep. When she was 12 weeks old and playing happily for an hour at a time by herself Jer and I realized she'd just developed a really bad habit of screaming when she was tired. That's all she knew! We would walk into our bedroom and as soon as we turned off the light she would start screaming.
For anyone out there who currently has a colicky baby, there isn't a cure. However, there are a few things we did that gave us some extra sleep now and then:

• Probiotics. We are still using these now. Samantha was jerking in her sleep, constantly waking herself up. This has helped, even post-colic!

• Soy/Dairy free diet- sucks, but helps the screaming while eating
  

• Hairdryer (we now use a white-noise maker)

• sleep training

• Get Help- but specifically from moms already in the the Colic Club. Samantha would sleep for 2 hrs at a time with my mom, simply because my mom has her own tricks and she was much less frustrated than me! (and the babies read your frustration)

On a lighter note:
We have the happiest and easiest baby now! It's amazing. I think we are enjoying her more than the average parent would simply because it is such a difference from what she use to be like!

• Samantha goes to sleep with minimal crying (now it's just protesting. Her last "protest" lasted 10 seconds)

• She sleeps in her bassinet

• She is currently sleeping in her woombie

• Really, the key word here is SLEEP. She is even sleeping wonderfully at night. We had a FIVE hour stretch last night! I just get giddy thinking about it!

• She will play by herself for over an hour at a time (as long as someone is in sight)

• She hates tummy time. Unfortunately, she's a little behind on the holding-her-head-up milestone. The last thing we wanted to do the past 3 months was do something that made her scream.

• She loves to read books (Lucy is her best reading buddy)

• When she's tired she rubs her eyes, curls up her legs, and shoves both fists in her mouth (she's given up on the thumb).

• She loves to cuddle

• She doesn't really cry anymore. Just pouts and protests. The pout is SO CUTE!

• Bath time is still a big hit (she goes nuts when I turn on the water)

• She is a big-time mama's girl. Jer had the flu last week and she saw me and only me for 4 straight days. Now she pouts big time when someone else (even Papa!) tries to hold/play with her.

Seriously, I could go on and on. She's just so much fun and cute!
* I'll post the video later, Blogger is giving me trouble and my Flip is broken :(